Development Seed

Blog

  • Jan 22, 2010
    Today SlingshotSMS has a new release for Mac and Windows and a lot of new documentation. Most importantly, it now produces RSS 2.0, works with a larger variety of modems, and can auto-connect to new devices. Using SlingshotSMS is a lot smoother now...
  • Aug 14, 2009

    Mobile routing tools for decentralized data collection in the field

    SlingshotSMS is a lightweight open source SMS gateway that can run run on a laptop or a USB drive and all the code is available on github. Using an GSM modem or cellphone, SlingshotSMS will send and receive text messages on behalf of your web...
  • Aug 13, 2009

    Integrating a lightweight SMS server with Drupal

    We finished up our simulations at Camp Roberts with a dry run of SlingshotSMS, a lightweight SMS server written in Python that listens for incoming messages and provides an HTTP service for a RESTful interface that we were able to integrate with...
  • Aug 5, 2009

    Testing Drupal as an Glue Layer for On the Ground Operations

    Robert, Tom, and I just arrived out at Camp Roberts up in rural central California, about 4.5 hours north of Los Angeles. We are kicking off a three day data collection simulation at McMillian Airfield. We were asked to participate in the exercise...
  • Mar 12, 2009

    United Nations Agency Reports Huge Growth in African Mobile Subscriptions

    An article published last week highlights some remarkable statistics about mobile access in Africa: where only 2% of Africans were using mobile phones in 2000, 28% have cell phones today. This exponential growth in cell phone adoption is significant...
  • Jan 29, 2009

    Examples of How Regular Expressions Can Be Used to Parse Incoming Messages with Drupal

    SMS is an excellent way to collect data from remote areas where internet connectivity is sparse. Drupal's SMS Framework makes it possible to create an intelligent message parser, so the incoming data can be processed and stored in a useful manner....
  • Nov 21, 2008

    SMS Gateway Could Help Improve Access to and the Creating of Citizen Media

    The SMS Gateway was featured in a report recently released by MobileActive as an open source mobile tool that could help make citizen created media more accessible. The SMS Gateway acts as a bridge between mobile phones and Drupal websites, letting...
  • Aug 20, 2008

    New Open Source Tools Will Make Decentralized Data Collection More Effective

    The release of the SMS Framework 1.0, along with the road map for a 1.1 version, is making Drupal a more attractive platform for organizations that need powerful, decentralized data collection tools. This recent work shows that using Drupal can give...
  • Aug 6, 2008

    Gnokii Sends and Receives SMS Text Messages Using USB or Bluetooth

    In addition to all of the work being done on the SMS Framework, we have also started researching how to quickly create our own two-way SMS gateway for sending and receiving SMS messages. It is a proof of concept based on needs we are hearing from...
  • Jul 10, 2008

    Drupal and SMS Integration, Ready To Go

    The 1.0 release of the SMS Framework is now available for download from Drupal.org. The project has come a long way since it’s initial development release last summer and is now ready for use. Numerous fixes and functionality improvements have...